It is a common trope in comics that every superhero group requires a covert team within it. Someone has to do the quiet jobs that require a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer. Justice League Red is based around establishing such a group within Justice League Unlimited. Unfortunately, the first issue offers little to hook a prospective audience.
The opening pages center around the robotic hero Red Tornado. Left without a body after recent events, he has turned his enhanced mind toward operating the Watchtower and running logistics. This has given him a lot of time to consider the likelihood of various disasters and how to best counter them. To that end, Red Tornado decides to start Justice League Red.
The first recruits to the new team are Green Lantern Simon Baz and Power Girl. Red Tornado believes they are capable of discretion and have the power needed to see his missions through. However, the two heroes are soon given reason to doubt Red Tornado’s information and his reasons for working in secret.
Justice League Red fails to sell high-stakes scenario
Writer Saladin Ahmed writes Justice League Red #1 as a slow-boiling thriller. There is also an anti-AI theme, as the ineffectiveness of algorithms to predict things is discussed. Most of the action is delivered through the scenes introducing Power Girl and Simon Baz. These scenes are effective, but the pacing is a little lackluster for a first issue.
A larger problem is the team itself. Both of the main covers show Red Canary, Deadman, and Cyborg alongside Power Girl and Simon Baz. Yet there is no sign or mention of them in the comic. It is also curious that Power Girl and Simon Baz were chosen for a team dependent on secrecy. Traditionally, they have both been written as hot-tempered and having issues with authority. While this does make capable of working outside the JLU command structure, it still doesn’t ring true to their histories.
The artwork, similarly, is competent, but not engaging. Clayton Henry offers good, clean linework and distinctive designs. The colors by Arif Prianto are suitably eye-catching. Unfortunately, that means little when most of this first issue involves the characters standing around and talking. What few action sequences there are seem static and the posing forced.
It is possible that Justice League Red might read better in a single volume than as a monthly series. There’s a good idea at its core, but the artwork is stilted, the cast is questionable, and the execution is lacking. Sadly, this first issue has too many red flags to encourage continued reading.
Grade: 5/10
Justice League Red #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on August 20, 2025.
